De vierde wand: Verhalen over reizen en vertrekken (Dutch Edition)

It takes some getting used to, that's true, the first book I've read by Japin. The writing style is sometimes a bit dry, lacking some emotion, but at the same time it's like a dream to me (for example, through Japin's storytelling I get to know the master author of Rechter Tie's adventures) or a feast of recognition (the whimsical adventures and moments bring back the same kind of memories of my travels!).

Japin reports on the moments he experiences during his travels around the world, often getting to know the most unexpected and unimagined people. To then return for a moment to traveling in thoughts, in a world of fantasy, to discover how you really become part of your journey without experiencing it as an outsider or just a show more spectator.

In my opinion, that's what makes this book so beautiful, and makes it recognizable to me. It is not the traveler who stays in a hotel or in a modern airbnb, not he or she who spends the night in a created tree house in Malaysia or in a manufactured luxury tent in the Dutch forests who gets to know the person next to them, but he or she who dares to open their heart and sometimes gets carried away in the events or the lives of people.

That entails risks, you can become seriously ill, fall victim to criminals, or simply be abused for a free drink by the local old lady at the bar.

And again and again: you tell your story when you get home and the listeners, the listeners... yes it seems as if they believe you, or find your stories interesting, but you never know for sure. You have experienced it, and you find it impressive, unbelievable, shocking, world news. The other? Even your trusted left-wing newspaper is not interested because "we already talked about that last year". And so Japin takes up the pen and offers it to the reader, directly, and to that reader to absorb it and do something, yes, anything with it. show less